LOUDON, N.H.—Brad Keselowski vowed that his trip into the media center after qualifying Friday wouldn’t be his last trip to the media center over the next several weeks because of a solid on-track performance.

The defending Cup champion sits 13th in the Sprint Cup points and while his team has maybe had a little bit of a kick to the ego this year, it apparently hasn’t hampered his swagger.

Keselowski turned a lap of 135.922 mph Friday to put his Penske Racing Ford on the pole for the Sprint Cup Series race Sunday at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“We’ve had good speed since we started here and obviously there is a lot more to racing a racetrack than how fast you are in qualifying, but it is still a good start,” Keselowski said.

“We have a great racecar here and I think our race team is ready. We have been close. We’ve had the speed the last few weeks to get the job done but different scenarios have bitten us. Those will come and go and I feel like they’ve went. This is our time.”

With just one top-10 finish in his past 10 races and no top-three finish or qualifying effort since late March, Keselowski has been in somewhat of a downward spiral considering his run to the Cup title in 2012.

“There is a sense of urgency but not a sense of panic,” Keselowski said. “I think there is a strong difference between the two. We are eager to get going, we are hungry and feel like we can do it but I don’t feel as sense of panic.”

Only 11 points outside the top-10 (and an automatic Chase berth), Keselowski could put himself in a stronger position to make the Chase with a win Sunday in the Camping World RV Sales 301.

“There are still two months of racing essentially to get into the Chase,” said Keselowski, who earned his first career Cup pole at New Hampshire in 2010. “We have fast racecars and if we do our part, we don’t need any help. If we do our part, we don’t even need any luck.

“We just need to do our jobs, and I feel like we have got the team to do just that.”

Keselowski was one of nine drivers to break the track record of 135.232 mph set by Ryan Newman in July 2011.

“I don’t feel like I nailed a perfect lap, but my guys carried me with that car,” Keselowski said. “Hopefully it will be this fast on Sunday when it really counts.”

The other thing drivers hope for is that the entire racetrack will be dry. A weeper–water coming up through pores and cracks in the track–interrupted practice and reappeared during qualifying between turns 3 and 4.

Several drivers talked about hitting it but believe if there is no more rain, it should be fine for the race.

The 301-lap race will have Kurt Busch (135.835 mph) starting beside Keselowski. It was going to be Jimmie Johnson, but Johnson’s car was too low in post-qualifying tech. The Hendrick Motorsports driver’s time was disallowed, sending him to the rear of the field for the race.